Alone in Italy
by serpentmaster13
Summary: When five year old Mario and Luigi wake up in Italy with no prior memory except for each others names. Ten years later, Mario is an infamous name, but one that is more commonly known as The Scourge of Italy. Rated T for Violence
1. Chapter 1

**New Story, YAY!**

**Disclaimer, I do not own Mario, Luigi, or Peach. They are owned by Nintendo. Also some of this story is from some of their games. For the sake of clarity on when this is happening.**

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><p>"When will you two come back home? It's been a long time science you were taken." A distressed mother worried.<p>

"Calm down. Remember, the princess and that that stupid clone were taken too. That kid is troublesome, and I'm glad he was taken initially. However, the Yoshis and the storks won't leave a baby behind, even if they are an evil fire breathing Koopa prince. More babies take longer to rescue." A man soothed his spouse.

"Why can't they just leave those two behind?" The female asked again. "They will be trouble in the future, I can feel it."

"Don't worry, if they are, our sons will stop them." The apprehensive father sighed. He couldn't wait to have his little boys back.

"I know hon, Mario will _never_ be a bad boy, we'll make sure of that." She replied.

"Well he makes my little girl happy, I'm sure they're having a wonderful adventure." Another figure stepped onto the balcony. The couple immediately knelt at his feet.

"Sire!" The man said. "We did not hear your approach."

"That's okay," The king said, gesturing for the other two to rise. "I guess none of us can enjoy the party can we?"

The three worried parents stood on the balcony stargazing. Toadsworth watched them mournfully. He hoped the young masters would return soon too. The two already had a worrisome past, their arrival being late and all, but kidnapped once more along with a slew of other babies was just cruel.

Toadsworth was snapped out of his thoughts when the king's breath suddenly became heavier and pained.

"Your highness, is something wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"I,... can't breath!" The king wheezed. The other couple were clutching their necks in desperation as well, but all three of the humans fell to their knees before dropping to the floor.

Dread grasped Toadsworth and pinned him in his place. The ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom was dying.

"Toadsworth," The King whispered before drawing in his final breath. "Take care, of my daughter." he whispered before a shudder passed through his body, then he was still.

Toadsworth waited, frozen in place by horror at the King's death, as if somehow by waiting he might come back. The night had become silent. The sounds of the party inside the castle had ceased. Finally Toadsworth trudged over to the King's body.

"I,...I will, sire." He promised, then Toadsworth glanced at the other two bodies lying motionless on the floor before repeating "I will, no matter how long it takes."

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><p>Toadsworth went into the library. It had been a while since the King had showed him the secret book that was not actually a book at all. It was a switch to open a door to the part of the library that the public were not free to roam. Toadsworth crept inside the room and found the book he had come for. Carefully he flipped the pages, which were so old they where actually slabs of stone.<p>

"The Great Release," he read out loud to himself, "is one of the remarkable occurrences the Mushroom and Beanbean Kingdoms have in common. It is the great release of spores that wipe out any physical mutations in toads, not including color or abilities, to keep them toads. It appears to occur every seventh millennium at the first full moon of spring." Toadsworth stopped reading the ancient text to process a different, more recent but still ancient, text. It was printed on a piece of papyrus stuck to the slab with honey.

"Warning, humans **will** choke on spores." Toadsworth read. He gulped. Now he knew, possibly all the humans in the Kingdom were dead.

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><p>The babies returned eventually, and Toadsworth took care of them, just like he promised. He was pleasantly surprised that E. Gadd had survived The Great Release. The young scientist said it was nothing. Weather or not it was nothing to survive a mass extinction and be the only adult of your species left was apparently not up to Toadsworth if the statement was true, but he was grateful for the young lad's help. All the toads pitched in in clearing the streets of the fallen homosapeins. Just because toads were fungus didn't mean they weren't revolted as an entire race dropped dead on the streets. The returned babies lived happily, until one day when the other baby prince Bowser attacked. Just like Alessandra had predicted,her son Mario stood up too the future Koopa King. Toadswirth educated Mario on how to fight, while Luigi looked on with Peach. Toadsworth's joy over the victory was soon cut short, as the whole castle began to tremble violently.<p>

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><p>Toadsworth relaxed and let himself be one with himself and the twist. As long as the princess was happy, he was doing all he could for the bros. Mario and Luigi coming out of the future had given him quite a scare, but now here he was on his own head in the future Mushroom Kingdom, spinning to entertain his princess. The other babies he had taken care of were off in their own time zone, saving it from ruthless aliens, the shroobs. <em>The Mario bros will save my home, I know they will; and one day, this will be my home. <em>Toadsworth thought.

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><p>Toadsworth winced as Mario coughed again. "I'm fine, really," The five year old insisted. Toadsworth wasn't so sure. Doctor Toadley had said it wasn't a normal illness that was ravaging the lungs of the brothers. The strange cough was ending the best time of theirs and the princess's lives. The trio were constantly getting pulled forward in time to do stuff with their future selves. They had done baseball, racing, tennis, even the olympics. Toadsworth did not think it was safe for babies to get frozen, burned, electrocuted, and blown up in an anti-gravitational, flying, and amphibious vehicles, but apparently he was the only one that thought that. Looking at the young princess now, Toadsworth admitted she was fine, although her not-so-<span>soon<span>-to be sweetheart was a different story. Toadsworth was snapped from his thoughts as Luigi and E. Gadd entered the room. Almost immediately Luigi broke down into a fit of coughing. Mario rushed to support his brother.

"This is not good. This is not good at all." E. Gadd said bluntly, all humor aside.

"Well, what's wrong?" Toadsworth asked. "Shroob spores," The professor answered. "Remember when Peach first arrived, and the King got all paranoid about her safety? I ran a probability generator to find out what ailments aliens could bring and actually got her a shot, which I tested on myself first, and then gave it to Wario as well later on. I think it's working on us, or it had already worked."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Toadsworth asked.

"Turns out the shroobs left spores that matched exactly what the vaccine was to fight against. It also turns out that they only affect humans."

"Why did you give it to that clone and not the original?" Toadsworth hissed.

"Because the original was not around when I found the last of the vaccine. " E. Gadd replied.

"But the shroobs invaded years ago, there's no way the spores are still in their lungs." Toadsworth spluttered.

"That's the way these spores act," The professor replied. "There are two types of spores that were released. One set stays and spreads in the air, while the other set goes into the body and waits. In a few years, when the airborne spores have spread as wide as they can, the ones in the body activate, and clog the lungs. The airborne spores replace the ones in the body as much as they need to."

"So," Peach asked, "What can we do?"

"Simple," Toadsworth answered, "We just send them away, in a couple days, for a couple days, maybe to Delfino."

"Not that simple." E. Gadd corrected. "They must go now, and there is nowhere that we know of they can go."

"What!" Hollered Luigi. His cry deteriorated into a flurry of frenzied coughs.

"What does he mean?" Peach asked.

"They're going to send us away!" Mario wailed.

"Why?" Peach whined.

"They will die if we don't." E. Gadd said simply.

"Why can't you just use a 1 up?" Luigi pointed out.

E. Gadd sighed. "Luigi there's f-" "Four types of dying," Mario interrupted. "died, wiped out, KOed, and game overed-" "and killed died." E. Gadd added.

Mario was rather taken aback. "Killed died?" he asked. "What's that?"

"When you're killed-died there is no way to come back," Toadsworth explained.

"Never?" Luigi asked.

"Never," Toadsworth confirmed. Silence seized the room. Toadsworth let the kids process what that meant. Living in a world when there was always a way back, even from world -1, it was quite shocking to them. Finally Peach spoke: "Is that what happened to our parents?" The question Filled Toadsworth with dread and tainted his mouth with a taste similar to that of bile. He gulped nervously and answered her question: "Yes, that's what happened to your parents."

"Where did our parents come from?" Luigi asked.

. "All of the humans that used to live here either came here from, or are descended from those world came from,... another world." Toadsworth answered.

"Another world?" Mario asked in wonder.

"Yes, another world on a whole other level of reality." Toadsworth turned to Luigi, wondering why he was getting off topic, but he looked deep in thought.

Mario took the tangent and ran with it. "If the humans came here, then how did they become the royals of the MK?"

"Stop it!" Peach yelled. "Have you all forgotten the problem? Mario and Luigi will die, killed-die, eventually; maybe even soon if we don't take them away, yet there is no where in this world where we can take them!"

Luigi turned to E. Gadd. "Can the spores float through different levels of reality?" He asked. A smile finally worked itself back on the professor's face. "No, no they can't; great thinking Luigi!" he said, he whisked over to his console (which was about as simple as a thousand sound control booths) and started pushing seemingly random buttons very rapidly.

"We'll send them to the human world," he said, obviously very excited. "It's the only way."

"But humans that have come from the human world in the past are different from those that live in the kingdom today. You can't send these two back, they're different!" Toadsworth objected.

"Yes, the spores that naturally occur regularly in the MK will alter the human body and enhance its performance, that is true," E Gadd confirmed.

"Then they will have to be turned back, we can't send them there." Toadsworth argued.

"We can put them there, but you don't want to." E. Gadd corrected. "and it _enhances_ our physical abilities to keep pace with those of the original residents. Without it there is no way humans would have survived in this world, and it will only aid them in their own."

"But, but, but…" Toadsworth stammered."

"Believe me, if I knew what what power I would have gained, I wouldn't have made my self immune to the enhancing spores," E. Gadd said. "but I suppose I was able to survive the great release thanks to that elixir so I should be grateful."

E. Gadd stopped pressing buttons and picked up a small rectangular box with buttons and a screen on it that was resting on the console.

"I call it my Game & Watch Klaxon," He said with a hint of pride in his voice and on his face. "Or GAWK for short."

"Why is it a Klaxon?" Toadsworth asked before a loud wailing emanating from the machine silenced him. E Gadd's happiness cascaded off his face, replaced by fear. "That's why," He said. "I made it to warn me, but I've repurposed it for all-purposes; such as finding dimensional holes when our time has run out. Come along boys!" He called to the twins. "Quickly now!" he said, opening the door that led to the outside.

"You're leaving now?" Toadsworth gaped incredulously.

"We have no choice. There is no reason to delay and every reason to hurry." glanced meaningfully at The Mario bros. "Your lives are on the line." He said. Their motionlessness dissipated and the duo followed E. Gadd as he jogged down the hall to the outside.

"Goodbye!" Peach called from the lab. Toadsworth wiped back the tears that began forming in her eyes.

"I await your safe return young masters." He said. "Just like before I will wait, however long it takes."

Peach hugged Toadsworth tightly, which she was the perfect size to do. "I will wait as well," She whispered. "You will return Mario, I know you will. This is not a final goodbye."


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry this took so long, password problems. **

**Sooooooooo; Enjoy, hope you like, and thank you for your time. **

**Disclaimer: Mario and Luigi belong to Nintendo.**

Mario stepped back to take in his newest work and reflected how sad it was he'd pulled it off so easily. Once upon a time people would line the street 24/7 to get a glance at the main attraction. Now that time was long gone, and cheap security cameras where the only things with eyes on the magnificent, ancient structure.

_That will all change soon, _Mario thought with a delinquent smirk. _All the world will have their eyes on my masterpiece by morning, maybe sooner. I should clear out._

Mario picked up some of the empty spraypaint cans at his feet and threw them in the trash before thinking: _What's the point? Weather or not their in the trash, they'll end up in the fingers of the police._

Mario turned and jumped to the top of the nearest building. as soon as his feet touched the platform he took off, sprinting along the roofs of the town, never touching the ground. In a matter of minutes he arrived on the outskirts of town, and at the thermal train station. The train ran on heat energy, and its rails were so hot you could get a third degree burn from getting too close.

Mario hopped right on straight from the roof and hit the rails running. He had no idea why it didn't bother him, it just didn't. There was a voluminous list of stuff Mario didn't know about himself.

He didn't know why he couldn't bruise, or why he couldn't cut himself. He could feel physical pain, but on a level that was obviously dimmer to everyone else's; and he had absolutely no clues whatsoever of why he loved red as much as all get-out. But worst of all, Mario didn't know where he came from. Ten years ago Mario woke up in Italy with no memory at all except for his own name, Luigi's name, and the fact that Luigi was his brother. The world was not a welcoming place for the two five year olds. No one would take in kids, because they did not want to break the E.R.L.s. The Earth Resurrection Laws were in place to revive earth, (which they already had)and keep it a beautiful place. Mario's least favorite of the E.R.L.'s was the set that was supposed to prevent overpopulation. Each couple was only allowed to have one set of children, and they were only allowed to have that set if all the orphanages in the world where empty. The urge to reproduce is a strong one, and if everyone was only allowed to go through _the procedure_ once, they wanted to go for it. Since the human race's HQ was on Mars, those on Earth could get away with a lot, like not putting orphans in orphanages.

_It means I can get away with a lot too. _Mario thought.

All the super intense crimes to be solved by super intense gadgets were on the Moon and Mars. As a result of the E.R.L.'s the high-tech gadgets all were also on the Moon and Mars. As a result, life on Earth had not really advanced at all. It was like the Homarsapiens and the Homoonsapeins had stuck the earth in a giant time machine and turned back the clock to around the time smartphones were invented, but swapped out everything that was hurting the environment to eco-friendly alternatives, like the train that was barreling towards Mario. He had spotted the blinding headlights far before, and didn't even wince when they loomed a meter from his face. Without really thinking Mario deftly jumped over the engine and sprinted down the length of the train. He hurtled off the caboose and hit the rails still running. Mario's tireless energy supplied a swift, steady, pace that only he, and his brother could accomplish. In no time, but quite some distance, another rail joined Mario's, one that ran on electric energy instead of heat. They dipped into a tunnel. Mario followed the rails into the darkness, carefully measuring his footsteps before abruptly jumping to the side. Mario landed in a little cave in the tunnel.

"You in here?" he called to the darkness.

A single grunt answered his question. Something shifted in the small tunnel and a gust of air shot past Mario. It was hard to see, but Mario could just barely make out the outline of his brother, Luigi; who had landed on the electric rail nimbly.

"Ready to move out?" Mario asked.

His twin nodded. "But I got a snack for you first." Luigi tossed Mario a bright red apple. How did Mario know it was red? He had not the slightest clue, but he just... knew. Mario bit into the apple. The crunch echoed in the tunnel, just a little too loudly to only be from one apple.

"Did you get one too?" He asked Luigi.

"Um hum." Luigi responded, his mouth full. "They had granny smith today."

After their snack, the two brothers emerged from the tunnel. In an unspoken agreement they simultaneously started running northwest.

In a half hour they came across a sprawling winery. Leafy green vines with bunches of bulging red and green grapes went on for miles. Mario and Luigi sauntered down a strip of land between the red grape vineyard and the green grape vineyard, taking as much of either color as they pleased. Finally they came to a secret door enmeshed in grapevines. After entering a passcode, the door slid smoothly open. Inside was the bros' secret base. It was a plush white space dotted with red and green items. Everything from Ipads to tooth brushes were color coded. Among the white items that the brothers shared where the walls, floors and ceilings, apart from those in their own personal bedrooms. In the main living area was a curved flat screen TV and a wraparound couch. Between the two lie a shag carpet.

Luigi immediately crashed on the couch, while Mario waded through a sea of red and green remotes and other types of controllers. When he found the right one, the TV flickered on to the program _Good Morning Italia! _Mario couldn't suppress a smile when he saw the breaking news head story.

"_The defacing of four of Italy's most amazing architectural feats has occurred!"_ The news anchor said. "_Ponte Vecchio, the Florence Cathedral, the Pantheon, and the worst of all, __the_ _Colosseum have been grotesquely defaced!"_

"I wouldn't say grotesquely." Mario commented. "It's not that bad"

"If you change any one of Italy's true marvels in any way, they'll call it grotesque." Luigi pointed out. "Even if it means straightening the leaning tower of Pisa, or restoring the colosseum to it's former glory. It's the fact that those exquisite buildings are old and crumbly that makes them so attractive."

"_This specific style and color graffiti are proof enough that the Scourge of Italy has struck again." _The TV continued "_I asked last time if he could do anything worse than his previous scandal, and he delivered."_

"You bet I did lady." Mario retorted.

"Indeed you did." said another voice.

As quick as he could be, Mario was kneeling in front of another.

Dante was the 22 year old owner of the winery. His father was imprisoned in space, and Dante had inherited his father's winery. He was a suspect in smuggling space weapons down to earth, where they where prohibited. Dante had taken in Mario and Luigi when no one else would. He even spoiled them, as long as they completed their errands for him. Mario owed him everything, and felt like Dante had saved his life.

"You two have outdone yourself." Dante remarked. "Mario, running all the way from Bologna to Rome and back in one night? Outstanding! And Luigi! The quality of your work on the Cathedral in florence? Amazing! Also, the clip of you playing the organ was simply magnificent!"

"Why thankyou." Luigi said blushing.

A loud wailing sounded as sirens went off. The TV screen switched from _Good Morning Italia!_ to the security monitors. A group of people in dark black uniforms attacked the grand front entrance of Dante's mansion. All of them were immensely tall, a common characteristic of humans who lived on Mars. Humans that lived on the moon would have been taller. All of them had gold badges that identified them as space police. Quickly, Dante stepped in front of the screen and shooed Mario and Luigi away from it. He pressed a button on the frame of the screen and a tiny camera poked out where Dante had pressed. On the live video feed of the front door, a small screen next to the tattered entranceway buzzed to live and Dante's face appeared on it.

"Why would you lovely gentleman be assaulting my establishment in such a rude manner?" he asked, rather fussily.

"You are under space arrest for contraband in your possession," one of the men said. "specifically space-developed technology that could be harmful to the fragile ecosystem here on Earth. Open the door before we break it down more than it already is."

"You have no proof." Dante proclaimed angrily. "Down on Earth you need something called a search warrant, remember?"

"Um Mario," Luigi murmured from somewhere behind his brother.

"Quiet!" Mario hissed, his eyes glued to the screen. He did not want to give them away to the authorities.

"We don't need a search warrant for space-related purposes," The guy said, not noticing anything amis behind Dante. "Besides, we _do_ have proof," he said, smiling. "It's behind you."

Mario whipped around quickly and jumped aside a second before a powerful blast reverberated the spot where he'd been standing.

A platoon of angry space police had found the back exit to Dante's mansion, much to Mario's astonishment. They held several weapons, a search warrant, a search warrant space-excuse, and a flustered Luigi; with a gun pressed to his head.

The guy on the screen sneered, his triumph was palpable.

Mario's heart burned with hatred.

And then all cheese-fudge broke loose.

Mario somersaulted backwards through the air, putting the couch between him and the police moments before it was blasted to bits. Mario flew out of those bits, and straight over the agent's heads, and sprinted outside to hide among the grapes; which he found he could not do. Heat seeking drones scanned the whole compound, and Mario got the sense they had just descended from space. Already, about ten had found him. A recorded warning to surrender and not move echoed from the speakers, which Mario ignored entirely. He sprinted around the mansion to its courtyard. The drones followed his every move. Mario dove into the pond, which despite the beautiful weather, was freezing cold. It was always kept this way, for the puffins that lived in it.

Dante had a very strange fascination with puffins.

Anyway, it did the trick. Each drone had settled on a puffin or two, and ignored Mario completely. Mario silently slipped out of the pond, suddenly incomprehensibly sleepy, and wandered into the mansion. The main showroom was very grand, but Mario didn't notice. He flopped on a couch, yawned, and went to sleep.

Only later would he remember Luigi.


	3. Chapter 3

**Oh my !**

**It's been way to long hasn't it? Sorry about that I'd written these next two chapters some time ago and revised them some time ago too. Sorry they're so dang late. I've been drawing a lot recently. **

**Disclaimer: Mario belongs Nintendo**

**Sam belongs to whoever the heck he wants to belong to. He's a free spirit.**

**Now without further ado, More of alone in Italy!**

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><p>Mario woke up on the couch. A blurry face hovered over him.<p>

"Are you awake?" It asked.

"No," Mario replied.

"You're awake aren't you?" The voice retorted.

"Perhaps."

"Well you should be awake," the blurry face suddenly receded, replaced by an icy cold shock and darkness as Mario closed his eyes from the sudden drop in temperature. He sat up and glared at the person who had poured ice water on him. The dude was stylish, decked out in 3/4 beige cargo pants and a cerulean T-shirt. He had thin, dark eyebrows and ruffled hair.

"What was that for!?" Mario exclaimed.

"You needed to wake up," the guy said. "I'm Sam."

Mario scowled.

"You fell asleep when you got too close to those space police," Sam continued.

"And why do I care?" Mario asked, groggily raising an eyebrow.

Sam ignored him. "There are fields - kind of like force fields - around each officer," he explained. "When a fast moving object violates a field, it sprays out gasses that make you sleepy."

"Why do you know that?" Mario inquired.

Sam made a sour face. "I've been researching and avoiding them for years," he said bitterly.

"Why?" Mario asked.

"They enforce any laws broken by paranormal activity that the earth police can't enforce, and then hand the criminals over to the government," Sam explained. "They took my sister, because she grew a horn."

Mario frowned. "How did your sister grow a horn?" He asked.

Sam was immediately on the defensive. "It doesn't make her any different!" He shouted. "She's just the same as the rest of us! She was smart and curious and completely sane! She was human! Why did they have to take her life away from her!?" He wailed.

Mario rolled his eyes, but on the inside, he sympathized with Sam. Not because of Luigi's kidnapping, but because that's how Mario felt about his whole life. He felt like this stupid world had taken away his chance at actually doing something worthwhile. He felt like the human world just wasn't where he belonged, and he wanted to know where he came from. Mario wanted his past, his background. It was like missing the first half of a really good play with an intricate plot and not understanding any of the resolution, because you don't know the characters, the motives, or even the basic problem. But he did miss Luigi too, and this could be his chance to find his brother.

"So, if you've been researching these... space police, do you know where they keep prisoners?" Mario inquired.

"They keep space prisoners in space, but they hand over any earthly inhabitants over to the earth governments," Sam answered. "What you want is where does the Italian government keep its weirdo prisoners. Fortunately for you, I have the information, but I don't have the talent to go in and get my sister myself," Sam said. "If I tell you where you can find your brother, will you get my sister out too?" he asked.

It was a no-brainer for Mario. "I'll help you, if it means getting Luigi back," he said.

"Good!" Sam said, smirking. "Of course you won't mind me tagging along."

Mario frowned. He did mind Sam tagging along. He minded it a lot, but if Luigi would be back by his side at the end of all of this, and this Sam guy would be gone, it would be worth it.

"Deal," he decided. "Now, why did you have to wake me up so rudely?"

"Because the space police will be here soon. The property is now the Italian's to sell, but they need to do a scan of any place where weapons from space were discovered."

"Well, where are Luigi and your sister?" Mario asked, annoyed. "We'll catch a train to wherever they're being held. I'll go in, get them, and then we'll go our separate ways," Mario planned. He wanted to be done with this Sam guy ASAP.

"I said I had the information, I didn't say I knew where they were," Sam protested.

"That's saying the same thing!" Mario retorted.

"Information and exact locations are two different things," Sam argued.

"Yes, but one implies the other!" Mario reasoned.

Sam looked as if he was about to reply, but he closed his mouth and took some deep breaths.

"Look," he said. "There's a place in northern Italy called Verona. There's an arena there. The structure itself is from ancient times, but there are still operas in it today. Everyday, at a specific time, there are special operas, that are actually codes that tell agents information. Since your brother was captured by the space police earlier today, the Italian authorities won't officially have custody of him until after today's performance. That means I can bet you his new location will be featured in tomorrow's opera."

Mario relaxed. Now he had something to go off of. "Let's catch a train," he suggested, standing up. "We can locate the arena upon arrival."

"Hold your horses," Sam said. "One step ahead of you. There's a train that leaves from Bologna at ten. It arrives in Verona at ten-thirty."

"What time is it now?" Mario asked.

"Seven thirty-six," Sam answered with no hesitation.

"Okay smarty pants," Mario sneered. "What time do the space police come to scan the house?"

"About one o'clock in the morning," Sam answered.

Mario laid his head back on the couch. "Do they have no respect for bedtimes?" he asked.

"Well, Mars and the Moon both aren't Earth. The space police's bodies just aren't on the same clocks that ours are," Sam replied, sitting down on the couch above Mario's head.

"I got some more questions for you, mister. You're not out of the woods yet," Mario warned. "Why did you have to wake me up now if we had that much time?"

"Because, I didn't know how you would react, or how much time it would take me to track you down if you ran away," Sam replied.

"Good reason," Mario agreed.

"Also, If I let you sleep in too late, it'd be hard to wake you up again," Sam continued.

"Not really. I do most my work at night and sleep in the day. Otherwise, another valid point," Mario remarked. "But if the space police are coming at one, and the train leaves at ten, why did you warn me about the police?"

"I have no idea," Sam said.

The two hung out in the house until they had to leave to catch the train. Mario turned on the news to see if it had any word of Luigi. Mario was pleasantly surprised. He thought that since Luigi was not a normal human, the Italian government would have kept quiet about the arrest. They might have succeeded, but there was one group of reporters from space who had the tech and the resources to leak all types of stories. They were secretly supported by media all over the world, as long as they brought top-secret and juicy stories to the airwaves. This afternoon, they had delivered.

"_Inside sources tell us the Scourge of Italy, or at least the Scourge's brother has been captured!"_ Exclaimed the reporter. "_Photos and other evidence suggests our own government has him in its talons. However, the location of the research facility to which he was taken remains a mystery."_

"Not for long," Mario promised. "Not for long."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer, Mario belongs to Nintendo**

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><p>Mario felt three sharp pokes prod him in the side. Instinctively he kicked out, and heard a splash.<p>

Mario yawned and opened his eyes as Sam dragged himself out of Adige river.

"You'll have to start shifting your clock," He said in annoyance, "and we may as well start now,".

Mario shrugged. He was used to doing his missions at night, and didn't really see why he had to start doing them during the day. It would only make the mission more difficult. The pair of travelers had arrived at ten thirty, last night. Usually, Mario would be waking up right about then. As soon as Dante gave him and Luigi their missions, the two brothers would be off. At about six AM or so, depending on the season,(daylight savings) they would come back, be praised by Dante, and have free time until about eleven o clock. Then Dante would have lunch, Mario and Luigi would have dinner, then the brothers would sleep until the next night's expeditions. The system worked well. It was going to be annoying to change his sleeping patterns, and apart from this opera, Mario didn't get why he needed to be awake during the day.

"Come on, we're in Verona!" Sam said. "Don't you want to look around, just a little bit?"

"I've already been here before," Mario said, yawning as he did so.

"Did you see Castle Veecho When you were here?" Sam questioned.

"Aren't we at _Castelvecchio_ now?" Mario asked.

"We're under the Castelvecchio bridge, not the actual Castelvecchio," Sam corrected.

"Whatever," Mario groaned. "Wake me up when it's time for the opera,"

"Come on! Don't you want to see the pizza deli epic!" This is Italy! Don't you want Italian pizza?"

"I _live_ in Italy, I can get Italian pizza whenever I want. Also, that's pronounced Piazza delle erbe," Mario corrected.

"Whatever," Sam huffed. "I'm going to look around, and then I'll catch the opera. You could just stay here or you can go with me,"

Mario sighed. Sam was undertoning that he wasn't coming back to the bridge just to wake up his lazy accomplice. As much as he wanted to stay under the bridge and rest until the opera, Mario knew he would probably oversleep. This opera was one thing he wasn't going to miss, even if it meant tagging along with Sam.

Mario swallowed hard and forced himself to stay calm. He and Sam were strolling next to each other down the Via Carlo Cattaneo. under the bridge, Sam had given the nervous teen a new jacket so that no one could recognise his trademark red hoodie. Mario had insisted not taking off his usual garment though, and instead wore the sweater over top the scarlet layer. Despite the recognition prevention, Mario's first and foremost instinct was to hide. He felt like every civilian was watching him intently. Waiting for the sleeve of his hoodie to slip down, or for a measly drop of bird poop to scare him onto a rooftop, for everyone to see. He felt so jumpy out in broad daylight. Everything was too bright. He couldn't see the shadows, and the shadows was were the danger lurked; where Mario usually lurked. He wanted to go back to them. They would embrace him like a freind, rapping him in cool darkness. Nothing looked too bright from the shadows. You were never blinded by the light; the light of the law at least. Mario felt to exposed out in this daylight. It held him under it's will. Just being out in the street like this took sandpaper to Mario's nerves; reducing them to the emotional equivalent of well-worn shoelaces. All his thoughts were astray on threads, disorderly and random in his head. Only the shadows could weave them back together.

"Aren't you hot in that?" Sam asked his companion, catching Mario off guard.

"No, I don't ever really get too hot, or cold for that matter," Mario replied. "I can tell when it's hot, I just can't really feel _too_ hot or cold."

"If Luigi is like that too, and from all the other things I've heard, you two are really true marvels," Sam praised. "Did you two get caught in some sort of super soldier lab accident when you were little?"

"Maybe, I wouldn't know," Mario replied.

"I know you probably wouldn't remember if you were babies at the time, but surely whoever took care of you must have known something?"

"My earliest memory is waking up in the streets of Italy when I was five. I was holding hands with Luigi," Mario said coldly. "We were orphans, no one wanted us."

"That's really sad," Sam replied.

"_**Turn right on Vicoletto Listone."**_ Said Sam's GPS.

"Why do you have that thing set to English?" Mario asked.

"**Because English is the language all the little kiddies have been learning for years. Even you seem to know it."** Sam commented in English.

"I've known English since before I can remember," Mario replied, still in Italian.

Sam sighed. "I prefer English but Italian it is."

The pair came to the end of the road, and their destination loomed in the middle ground.

In the foreground was a huge building. It more than loomed, but towered over the city of Verona itself. The outside was constructed of glass, but on the inside of that it was a large steel cylinder. The two layers where only two meters apart, and the lustrous steel under the see-through, yet reflective glass made for quite the bright light as the sun reflected of it.

Mario felt like a searchlight of the law had landed on him. He began to slightly hyperventilate.

"The Tower di Piazza Bra," Sam remarked in awe. "Although it was built to draw in tourism, the government decided to give it another purpose, and made it a radio tower. I heard that it's one of the best sunset viewing destinations in the world, and many a proposal has happened atop it."

"It's also a complete menace to the arena" Mario realized. "Because of it's positioning, it's enormous shadow falls almost directly upon the arena at sunset. The performers must hate it! It blocks all the light and the audience can't see the performance."

"Look on the bright side," Sam said "At least the actors don't have the sun in their eyes!"

"More like look on the darkside," Mario muttered.

"Besides," Sam continued, oblivious to Mario's utterance. "When you go to an inside arena they usually dim the lights on purpose. That tower does them a favor."

Unbeknownst to Sam, Mario was contemplating a decision. He really wanted to ditch this know it all for the moment. But then he might miss the concert.

Sam rambled on in the background. "Besides, the sun only sets more to the south west in the winter. In the summer, the tower's shadow would probably fall clear off to the south east, leaving the arena uncovered."

"You know what, You catch the show. I'll see you later." Mario said.

"Wait, what about-" Sam stammered. But Mario was already gone.

Mario slouched in one of the arches on the east side of the arena. It looked so much like the coliseum, he reflected. It wasn't nearly as tall, it had only two rows of arches on top of one another instead of the coliseum's three. The colosseum also had a fourth layer on top of that, without the arches.

Mario let his hands venture into the pockets of his borrowed jacket. Just like he expected, he didn't feel fabric. Instead he felt a void, a void filled with stuff he had picked up over the years. Whatever clothing he wore acted like this. The pockets would always have tons of stuff in it. It was almost like a folder on the internet. Mario could put things in it, and they would be there. Upon entering his pockets the object would have no weight, and nothing would bulge. As long as it fit in the opening it would stay in the empty space, awaiting the day when Mario called upon it again with his searching fingers.

Mario felt around in there for a little while until he found what he was looking for. It was smooth, slightly warm, and small enough to fit in his palm. Mario's hand closed on two squashed spheres, one larger than the other, together in a single object. As he pulled it out the low light revealed it's color. The larger sphere was cobalt blue, with four white spots placed equidistant from each other around the sphere's equator. Beige covered the smaller sphere. However, under one of the white dots, two black ovals stared back up at Mario. He could tell they were eyes. They were eyes without eyeris', eyes without whites; just unblinking black eyes. Sometimes he felt like those eyes just stared into his soul. However, they served another purpose. If something he pulled out of his pockets had those eyes, it would change him in some weird phenomenal way.

Mario popped the thing in his mouth. Like all the others he had done in the past, it vaporised on his tongue, dispersing into powder that coated the fibers of his being, and they began to change him. The whole world seemed to grow around him, but Mario knew he was shrinking. He knew this from experience. He also knew from experience that he would become faster, and could walk on walls, and water. Mario leaped effortlessly back to street level, racing toward the Tower di Piazza Bra. Everytime he was about to do what he was about to do he braced himself, fearing he would smack himself against a solid surface at full speed. However, just like every time he had attempted this prior, something in him instinctively lept onto the vertical surface and Mario continued to run, right up the tower. He had taken care to approach on the dark side of the tower, so that his streaking shape would not be easily noticed. In no time Mario reached the top of the tower, which he found was a flat helipad with a trapdoor leading down into the building.

He fished around in his pocket for another one of those strangely-colored sphere combos that he long ago had began to think of as capsules, as they resembled squashed pills. The one he pulled out now was slightly larger than the last, and where the former had been colored blue, this one was red. He let it's strange power fill his being and once again found himself of normal size. Part of Mario wondered if his powers came from the red and white capsules. Whenever he got hurt, from a paper cut to a broken spine, eating one of these capsules would always restore him to a healthy state. They even cured the common cold, not to mention chicken pox.

Mario lounged on his belly, looking down on the arena from the tower. From this view he could see that not many people sat in the arena. On his way up the tower Mario had counted at least twice as many people inside the glass and steel structure, and that was only the amount of people he could see through the glass. There must have been many more inside the steel core of the structure. He hated this building. Modern marvels like this drew so much attention away from the true marvels, like the ancient arena Mario gazed down on. The tower reminded him of space exploration as a whole, the space police, and every person up there dancing upon the stars. After they put the preservation laws down on earth, they almost seemed to have forgotten about it; forgotten about their roots, where they came from, similar to the way Mario had. HE wished he knew his past, but had no where to go; and all the space people had to do was look down, and they didn't care! They were already exploring an obscure moon of Jupiter's before they had even mapped out the depths of the ocean. For Mario, this tower was a metaphor for the reason everything had gone wrong with his life. Despite the raging anger inside of him, Mario's motions remained calm as he slipped his hand in his pockets once more, and found another capsule. This one's top squashed sphere was much larger than the bottom one, even larger than Mario's head. It was mostly a mustard yellow, and it's four spots where red. Mario knew what it did. If he used this capsule's power, it would turn him into a giant, and Mario was very tempted. He knew he had a destruction addiction that he had to get rid of, but destroying this tower would be so much fun! Mario knew it was wrong to take out all his anger on a tower and the people in it, but there was a lot of anger to take out. Mario lay there for a long time, turning the capsule over and over in his hands a thousand times. He stared into it's black eyes, wondering if they were goading him on or calming him down; the intentions of the infinite blackness mixing from the music that was now rising from the arena below. After a while he got the feeling that the eyes were just existing, and didn't really have an opinion. He probably dozed off for a while too, but if he did, he couldn't really tell. Finally, Mario decided that he best not draw attention to himself, especially in broad daylight. He sighed, wishing he had decided otherwise. There would be time for sweet revenge later, when Luigi was back at his side. For now, Mario slipped the huge yellow capsule back into his pocket.

Mario was contemplating how such a large thing could fit in his pocket when he heard explosions.

Looking downward, he saw a small shape speeding away from a larger formation of more black shapes. Only the formation had red and blue lights on them. Mario sighed. _Sam, what have you gotten yourself into? _He thought. Then Mario jumped over the side of the tower, plummeting to the street below.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for your time<strong>


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